Are Clients Hanging Up On Our Mobile Marketing Efforts?
Posted by 
on Monday, April 29, 2013 
at 1:36 PM 
in Mobile marketing has emerged as one of the driving forces in today’s advertising venues.
More people are connected to the internet, each other, and to companies through mobile means than ever before. Smart phones, tablets, and mobile enabled e-readers have become the new standard of connection.
Mobile marketing reaches even more people than other internet based advertising due to the ways advertisements are shared. Most ad-blocking software is designed for computers, not mobile platforms. This gives mobile marketing an edge.
SMS Marketing
SMS marketing or text message marketing can be a big turn off.
When people receive ‘cold’ texts they are likely to delete the message instead of following a link. Much like telemarketing phone calls, unsolicited text messages are annoying. If you plan to use text messaging in your marketing campaigns, allow people to choose to receive the texts.
Click on the image to see how one of our newest clients transformed themselves into a marketing service provider.
On your company’s website give people a reason to opt-in to text marketing messages. Every message needs some sort of enticement for customers to click links or ask for more information. Messages that have no value to your customer will likely be ignored.
Limiting Messages
Another important aspect to text marketing is to limit the number of messages sent per month.
You can allow customers to choose how many messages they want to receive based on a number per week, month, or based on sales. Even the happiest customer can get tired of messages. Too many messages will end up seen as spam, much like unsolicited email.
Opt-In
When you allow people to opt-in to your text marketing they need to be aware of how many messages you will be sending.
Be careful to fully disclose what type of messages will be sent. When your customers opt-in they could choose plain text or HTML/image texts. Some phones are able to handle image heavy messages, though this could hurt the data plans for some customers. Opting in to graphics texts needs to have an explanation of data usage.
To avoid problems it may be advisable to only send text SMS. A double opt-in is advisable to ensure your customers really want to receive messages and cannot report your company for spam.
As with email, you should keep an eye on the results of campaigns.
If a mobile marketing strategy seems to be going downhill or isn’t generating any response, it might be time to change tactics. Mobile ads are not limited to text message marketing. You can also think about mobile ads on websites through Google Adwords, ads in mobile games, and on mobile websites.
There’s an avenue for every creative marketer. Mobile advertising isn’t as expensive as some advertising campaigns and has a high rate of return thanks to the ease of implementation.
If your company offers a service no one else does you might think about creating a mobile app that customers can use at any time.
Apps are a hugely popular method of marketing that is only now being fully realized.
So, have you had good results to date when it comes to mobile marketing?
About the Author: Tina Samuels writes on social media, mobile marketing, and business individuals like Steve Wynn.
Tags [Webinar Announcement] Under The Mobile Umbrella
On Wednesday, April 10, at 1 pm EST, Grow Socially is hosting a webinar entitled “Under the Mobile Umbrella.”
Sales Executive Tom Barry and Marketing Execution Specialist Katie Sadlierwill be talking about all things mobile, and how it can help your business.
“This will be a busy 40 minute webinar,” said Katie. “We will be covering many different aspects of mobile marketing, as well as providing you with stats and figures that will show just how prominent mobile has become.”
This will be a chance for listeners to learn about iFlyMobi and Qreate and Track, two mobile marketing tools that have proven to add value to any business.
Some of the other topics discussed will be:
- Mobile websites
- Near Field Communication
- QR Codes
- Augmented Reality
- Responsive Web Design
“I am really looking forward to this session,” said Tom. “We work with mobile every day here at interlinkONE and Grow Socially, and this is a great opportunity for us to share our expertise with our attendees. We want to help these companies get started with mobile marketing, and more importantly, how to make money with it.”
This webinar will last 40 minutes. Follow the link below to reserve your seat today.
Reserve a spot under the umbrella today!
Mobile Marketing Greatness – It’s Your Destiny
Do you have what it takes to be a mobile marketing legend? You don’t need an advanced degree or specialized training. In order to be destined for mobile marketing greateness, you just need to keep your head in the mobile marketing game. Here are 4 questions you must ask yourself to fulfill your destiny!
1. Do You Stay On Top Of The Latest News?
Do you read articles and watch videos to find out how other companies are tackling the technology? How mobile marketing is evolving? IF you’re not keeping tabs on it, there is no way you can know if you’re going in the right direction.
2. Have You Created A Support Network?
You don’t have to do everything from scratch. This isn’t Homemade Mobile Marketing 101. A support network is a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of the latest and greatest without having to learn everything yourself. Sites like iFlyMobi and Qreate & Track provide that kind of support.
3. Do You Utilize Location-Based Applications?
Business that understand the need to exploit the inherent features of mobile devices understand that using location based apps is a complete no-brainer when it comes to mobile marketing. Anything from a mobile friendly site that can provide directions from the user’s location to your business, to ads that pinpoint users who are local to entice them with a discount is a smart (and imperative to ultimate greatness) aspect of mobile marketing efforts.
4. Are You Embracing Consistency?
Consistency is key – not only in branding, but also in timeliness. You want to make sure you show “who” your company is and not create some new identity through mobile marketing. You also don’t want to over-do it and be in your audience’s face 24/7.
Ask yourself these four questions next time you evaluate your mobile marketing. But if you have more questions – I know the place to get them answered.
5 Tips to Ramp Up Your Mobile Marketing via Social Media
Mobile marketing and social media go hand-in-hand. Look around you on any work day. Inside the office or outside on the street, watch as everyone looks at their phones and swipes, clicks and taps their way around the smartphone screen. A large number of them will be on a social media platform such as Facebook or Twitter.
The reality is, social media can be titillating and informative. It’s becoming second nature for users to take a quick picture of what they’re eating or something funny they are looking at and then positing it to share. They read another user’s status and then they comment. They vent about their day.
Now you have to ask yourself, are you taking advantage of this high degree of engagement? Are you present on social media platforms and are you integrating your mobile marketing and social media efforts? Here are some tips on how to make that integration simple and seamless.
1. You should have a mobile site.
If you don’t, you need to set one up. But let’s say you have one. Great! But is it set up to make it a one tap operation to share your information on a user’s social media account?
For example, the iFlyMobi.com application makes it a no-brainer for your audience to share your mobile website content via social networking sites. A “Share This” button is placed on each of your mobile site pages to help encourage your audience to pass your mobile site awesomeness along. Because the easier you make it, the more likely your audience will comply with your subtle (or not so subtle) request to share information.
2. Be strategic with your thinking.
Yes, you need to toot your own horn from time to time. But how can you do that, as well as stay interesting and shareable with your audience? It’s a delicate balancing act, but one you have to become familiar with.
3. Appeal to the senses.
It shouldn’t be all about words when you Tweet, update or post. Upload photos. Share videos. Add audio files. Not only does this make your mobile marketing more engaging, but it also makes it more likely to be shared via social media platforms.
4. Think like your audience.
If you don’t have a personal Facebook page or a personal Twitter account, think about setting up accounts and looking at things from a more subjective (less corporate agenda) point of view. You may be surprised. It’s easy to get knee deep in assuming what your audience wants and appreciates versus really researching what they want to see and what would prompt them to act.
5. Integrate!
Make sure your mobile marketing and social media is integrated and not a stand-alone experience. In this vein, combine the type of marketing that social media encourages. It’s much more about conversations and experiences, not the traditional “let me convince you how great I am” kind of marketing.
Follow me on Twitter for more mobile marketing news. Have more questions about mobile marketing? Fear not! We can help you with that.
3 (More) Mobile Marketing Must-Haves: Part III
Here it is, the final installment of my mobile marketing must-haves series. We’ve covered a lot of ground of the past couple weeks, and hopefully these final three tips will steer your business to mobile success. Last week, we learned about getting social media integrated into your mobile strategy, as well as tips on measuring and analyzing your data.
Thanks for reading!
7. Bridge From Print To Mobile
Ensure that you bridge the gap between your marketing efforts, from print to online to mobile. There is no reason for your efforts to be separated, and no campaign should feel like the proverbial red-headed stepchild. Coordinate your marketing and keep your branding intact. Brainstorm about how you can engage an audience member from print to online or print to mobile. Print QR codes on materials that direct to a mobile app or site. Have links to mobile friendly destinations in your emails. Mobile marketing shouldn’t exist in a bubble, especially if you want a great return on your investment.
8. Understand Your Hardware
As you develop your mobile marketing campaigns, take a closer look at typical mobile devices. Look at their features and see what could be exploited (in a good way, of course) to create a more interactive experience between your marketing efforts and the audience member. Can you integrate the calendar or contact info features? The camera?
9. Strike A Balance
Make sure, as you work your mobile marketing plan and reach for those goals that you strike a balance. You don’t want to bombard your audience with SMS messages, mobile marketing ads and the like, but you don’t want to remain silent for long either. You want to be engaged and responsive, and you will find that you will get some major bang out of your mobile marketing work.
Miss the first couple of posts? Click the links below to get caught up on tips 1-6.
